5537.01
Turnpike commission definitions.

As used in this
chapter:

(A)
"Commission" means the Ohio turnpike and
infrastructure commission created by section 5537.02 of the Revised Code
or, if that commission is abolished, the board, body, officer, or commission
succeeding to the principal functions thereof or to which the powers given by
this chapter to the commission are given by law.

(B)
" Turnpike project" means any express or limited
access highway, super highway, or motorway constructed, operated, or improved,
under the jurisdiction of the commission and pursuant to this chapter, at a
location or locations reviewed by the turnpike legislative review committee and
approved by the governor, including all bridges, tunnels, overpasses,
underpasses, interchanges, entrance plazas, approaches, those portions of
connecting public roads that serve interchanges and are determined by the
commission and the director of transportation to be necessary for the safe
merging of traffic between the turnpike project and those public roads, toll
booths, service facilities, and administration, storage, and other buildings,
property, and facilities that the commission considers necessary for the
operation or policing of the turnpike project,
together with all property and rights which may be acquired by the commission
for the construction, maintenance, or operation of the turnpike project, and includes any sections or
extensions of a turnpike project designated by the commission as such for the
particular purpose. Each turnpike project shall be separately designated, by
name or number, and may be constructed, improved, or extended in such sections
as the commission may from time to time determine. Construction includes the
improvement and renovation of a previously constructed turnpike project, including additional interchanges,
whether or not the turnpike project was initially
constructed by the commission.

(C)
"Infrastructure project" means any public express or
limited access highway, super highway, or motorway, including all bridges,
tunnels, overpasses, underpasses, interchanges, entrance plazas, approaches,
and those portions of connecting public roads that serve interchanges, that is
constructed or improved, in whole or in part, with infrastructure funding
approved pursuant to criteria established under section 5537.18 of the Revised
Code.

(D)
"Cost," as
applied to construction of a turnpike project or an
infrastructure project, includes the cost of construction, including
bridges over or under existing highways and railroads, acquisition of all
property acquired either by the commission
or by the owner of the infrastructure project for
the construction, demolishing or removing any buildings or structures on land
so acquired, including the cost of acquiring any lands to which the buildings
or structures may be moved, site clearance, improvement, and preparation,
diverting public roads, interchanges with public roads, access roads to private
property, including the cost of land or easements therefor, all machinery,
furnishings, and equipment, communications facilities, financing expenses,
interest prior to and during construction and for one year after completion of
construction, traffic estimates, indemnity and surety bonds and premiums on
insurance, title work and title commitments, insurance, and guarantees,
engineering, feasibility studies, and legal expenses, plans, specifications,
surveys, estimates of cost and revenues, other expenses necessary or incident
to determining the feasibility or practicability of constructing or operating a
turnpike project or an infrastructure project,
administrative expenses, and any other expense that may be necessary or
incident to the construction of the turnpike project or
an infrastructure project, the financing of the construction, and the
placing of the turnpike project or an
infrastructure project in operation. Any obligation or expense incurred
by the department of transportation with the approval of the commission for
surveys, borings, preparation of plans and specifications, and other
engineering services in connection with the construction of a
turnpike project or an infrastructure project, or
by the federal government with the approval of the commission for any public
road projects which must be reimbursed as a condition to the exercise of any of
the powers of the commission under this chapter, shall be regarded as a part of
the cost of the turnpike project or an
infrastructure project and shall be reimbursed to the state or the
federal government, as the case may be, from revenues, state taxes, or the
proceeds of bonds as authorized by this chapter.

(E)
"Owner" includes
all persons having any title or interest in any property authorized to be
acquired by the commission for turnpike projects
under this chapter, or the public entity for whom an
infrastructure project is funded, in whole or in part, by the commission under
this chapter.

(F)
"Revenues" means
all tolls, service revenues, investment income on special funds, rentals,
gifts, grants, and all other moneys coming into the possession of or under the
control of the commission by virtue of this chapter, except the proceeds from
the sale of bonds. "Revenues" does not include state taxes.

(G)
"Public roads"
means all public highways, roads, and streets in the state, whether maintained
by a state agency or any other governmental agency.

(J)
"Bond
proceedings" means the resolutions, trust agreements, certifications, notices,
sale proceedings, leases, lease-purchase agreements, assignments, credit
enhancement facility agreements, and other agreements, instruments, and
documents, as amended and supplemented, or any one or more or any combination
thereof, authorizing, or authorizing or providing for the terms and conditions
applicable to, or providing for the security or sale or award or liquidity of,
bonds, and includes the provisions set forth or incorporated in those bonds and
bond proceedings.

(K)
"Bond service
charges" means principal, including any mandatory sinking fund or mandatory
redemption requirements for the retirement of bonds, and interest and any
redemption premium payable on bonds, as those payments come due and are payable
to the bondholder or to a person making payment under a credit enhancement
facility of those bond service charges to a bondholder.

(L)
"Bond service
fund" means the applicable fund created by the bond proceedings for and pledged
to the payment of bond service charges on bonds provided for by those
proceedings, including all moneys and investments, and earnings from
investments, credited and to be credited to that fund as provided in the bond
proceedings.

(M)
"Bonds" means
bonds, notes, including notes anticipating bonds or other notes, commercial
paper, certificates of participation, or other evidences of obligation,
including any interest coupons pertaining thereto, issued by the commission
pursuant to this chapter.

(N)
"Infrastructure fund" means the applicable fund or
funds created by the bond proceedings, which shall be used to pay or defray the
cost of infrastructure projects recommended by the director of transportation
and evaluated and approved by the commission.

(O)
"Net revenues" means revenues lawfully available to pay both current operating
expenses of the commission and bond service charges in any fiscal year or other
specified period, less current operating expenses of the commission and any
amount necessary to maintain a working capital reserve for that
period.

(P)
"Pledged
revenues" means net revenues, moneys and investments, and earnings on those
investments, in the applicable bond service fund and any other special funds,
and the proceeds of any bonds issued for the purpose of refunding prior bonds,
all as lawfully available and by resolution of the commission committed for
application as pledged revenues to the payment of bond service charges on
particular issues of bonds.

(Q)
"Service
facilities" means service stations, restaurants, and other facilities for food
service, roadside parks and rest areas, parking, camping, tenting, rest, and
sleeping facilities, hotels or motels, and all similar and other facilities
providing services to the traveling public in connection with the use of a
turnpike project and owned, leased, licensed, or operated by the
commission.

(R)
"Service
revenues" means those revenues of the commission derived from its ownership,
leasing, licensing, or operation of service facilities.

(S)
"Special funds"
means the applicable bond service fund and any accounts and subaccounts in that
fund, any other funds or accounts permitted by and established under, and
identified as a "special fund" or "special account" in, the bond proceedings,
including any special fund or account established for purposes of rebate or
other requirements under federal income tax laws.

(T)
"State agencies"
means the state, officers of the state, and boards, departments, branches,
divisions, or other units or agencies of the state.

(U)
"State taxes"
means receipts of the commission from the proceeds of state taxes or excises
levied and collected, or appropriated by the general assembly to the
commission, for the purposes and functions of the commission. State taxes do
not include tolls, or investment earnings on state taxes except on those state
taxes referred to in Section 5a of Article XII, Ohio Constitution.

(V)
"Tolls" means
tolls, special fees or permit fees, or other charges by the commission to the
owners, lessors, lessees, or operators of motor vehicles for the operation of
or the right to operate those vehicles on a turnpike project.

(W)
"Credit
enhancement facilities" means letters of credit, lines of credit, standby,
contingent, or firm securities purchase agreements, insurance, or surety
arrangements, guarantees, and other arrangements that provide for direct or
contingent payment of bond service charges, for security or additional security
in the event of nonpayment or default in respect of bonds, or for making
payment of bond service charges and at the option and on demand of bondholders
or at the option of the commission or upon certain conditions occurring under
put or similar arrangements, or for otherwise supporting the credit or
liquidity of the bonds, and includes credit, reimbursement, marketing,
remarketing, indexing, carrying, interest rate hedge, and subrogation
agreements, and other agreements and arrangements for payment and reimbursement
of the person providing the credit enhancement facility and the security for
that payment and reimbursement.

(X)
"Person" has the
same meaning as in section 1.59 of the Revised Code and, unless the context
otherwise provides, also includes any governmental agency and any combination
of those persons.

(Y)
"Refund" means
to fund and retire outstanding bonds, including advance refunding with or
without payment or redemption prior to stated maturity.

(Z)
"Governmental
agency" means any state agency, federal agency, political subdivision, or other
local, interstate, or regional governmental agency, and any combination of
those agencies.

(AA)
"Property" has
the same meaning as in section 1.59 of the Revised Code, and includes interests
in property.

(CC)
"Outstanding,"
as applied to bonds, means outstanding in accordance with the terms of the
bonds and the applicable bond proceedings.

(DD)
"Ohio turnpike
system" or "system" means all existing and future turnpike projects
constructed, operated, and maintained under the jurisdiction of the
commission.

(EE)
"Ohio turnpike and infrastructure system" means
turnpike projects and infrastructure projects funded by the commission existing
on and after July 1, 2013, that facilitate access to, use of, and egress from
the Ohio turnpike system, and also facilitate access to and from areas of
population, commerce, and industry that are connected to the Ohio turnpike
system.